Tyro, Australia’s business-only bank, announced two major advancements to its EFTPOS and Bank Account offerings – Flexible Same-Day Settlement and payroll integration through Xero accounting software.
These innovations have been developed from an understanding of the real-world environment small to medium enterprises (SMEs) operate in and reinforces Tyro’s market position as the leading business bank for SMEs.
A key pain point for merchants is the time it takes to access their funds, particularly for businesses that close late (e.g. hospitality) or trade on weekends (e.g. retail). Tyro recognises end of day trading times for merchants vary from business to business and in response to this, Tyro has further enhanced its EFTPOS solution introducing Flexible Same-Day Settlement to benefit Australian businesses, especially SMEs. Flexible Same-Day Settlement enables Tyro merchants to receive Tyro EFTPOS settled funds into their Tyro Bank Account at a time they choose between 8.00pm to 5.00am AEST, seven days a week (including public holidays).
With Flexible Same-Day Settlement, merchants are able to better manage reconciliations, as well as cashflow and operations. It helps to ensure a more accurate and consistent reconciliation process as merchants choose when their day ends rather than payments being split over a number of days. For example, hospitality merchants that may close as late as 1.00am can receive their funds in one lump sum at the end of their trading day. Other financial institutions may have a cut off time of 9.00pm which may see the merchant receiving some funds before 9.00pm and any sales incurred after this time may be received the following day, further complicating payment reconciliation. On the other hand, choosing Flexible Same-Day Settlement with Tyro, retailers can get paid as early as 8.00pm instead of having to wait for a prescribed payment time.
In addition to Flexible Same-Day Settlement, Tyro has introduced an integrated payroll solution with Xero. Tyro has eliminated the extra step of having to separately process payroll by allowing merchants to input pay runs through Xero, which is linked to their Tyro Smart Account - saving merchants time without having to download and upload ABA files anymore. Within a week of launching, there was a 20 per cent take up with current Tyro customers who are also existing Xero customers. The popularity of this feature aligns with feedback received from SMEs so far who are experiencing the time-saving benefits of the Xero payroll integration, by providing accounting and banking reconciliation as well as delegating user authorities for approvals i.e. accountants are able to process the payment in Xero and the business owner is then able to approve the payment in the Tyro app.
Robbie Cooke, CEO at Tyro, said, “We understand for some SMEs, cashflow is always crucial and getting access to funds is essential for everyday business, whether it is paying staff and invoices, using cash to run the business or investing back into the business. Flexible Same-Day Settlement gives Tyro merchants the ability to receive their funds daily, and the integration with Xero payroll increases efficiency, so SMEs can tailor their own cashflow and payments, reinvest into their business and run a smoother operation.”
Flexible Same-Day Settlement and Xero payroll are also integrated into the Tyro mobile app, giving Tyro customers full control of their banking in the palm of their hands. Merchants can track daily EFTPOS sales and see what is settling into their Tyro Smart Account. Using Xero payroll integration, they can also post pay runs directly from Xero without the need to download/upload an ABA file and approve them using the app - pay run transactions are then made from their Tyro Smart Account and fed back to Xero for reconciliation.
Tyro’s highly developed in-house engineering capability places it at the forefront of banking and payment innovation. As the only Australian bank completely dedicated to business banking, Tyro strongly supports SMEs by designing innovative products and a better experience for customers, so they can succeed. The company recently unveiled industry-first innovations such as the launch of its award-winning least-cost routing product, Tap & Save, a new deal that will see Tyro develop a one-stop point of sale (POS) and app integration for merchants, and a new agreement with Alipay that sees Tyro being the first Australian bank to integrate with Alipay. These initiatives demonstrate Tyro’s commitment to consistently updating its offerings to meet the needs of Australia’s SMEs.